What is Reading Recovery?


i3- Investing in Innovation Federal Grant- Reading Recovery: Scaling Up What Works

Reading Recovery Innovation Grant


Ohio State University has received a $55 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education to scale up Reading Recovery. Lesley University is a partner on this grant which in turns allows districts and schools that are in the region served by Lesley University to take part in this grant opportunity. The proposal was one of four that were given the highest rating in the scale-up portion of the 2010 i3 federal grant competition. This is a five year grant that ends in 2015.
Many schools qualify to take part in this grant. In order to qualify, a school needs to fit into at least one of the following four categories:
  • a school listed on the state’s School Improvement Grant list
  • a Title I school in restructuring or corrective action
  • a school that is in a rural LEA (listed on the SRSA and RLISP eligibility lists)
  • a school that has an ELL/LEP population that is at or above the state’s average
This grant funds:
  1. the entire year of Reading Recovery teacher training
  2. a $2,000 stipend to be used during the first two years of training



What is Reading Recovery?

Reading Recovery® is a proven, short-term early literacy program for first-grade children having extreme difficulty learning to read and write.
For an average of 12 to 20 weeks children receive daily, one-on-one, 30-minute lessons taught by a specially trained teacher.
The results? All children improve their reading and writing skills, while approximately 75% reach their grade level after 20 weeks.
"The goal of Reading Recovery is to dramatically reduce the number of learners who have extreme difficulty with literacy learning and the cost of these learners to education systems." -Marie Clay, founder, Reading Recovery